The city, including the first traces of dwellings date back to 200 BC,[3] was originally named Mimata,[citation needed] probably in reference to the mountains that surround it.

The other important nearby towns are Aurillac and Saint-Flour (Cantal), Le Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire), Rodez, Millau (Aveyron) and Alès and Nîmes (Gard).

Mende is situated in the high valley of the Lot, in a mountainous area, in the Pays du Gévaudan, the Rieucros stream joins to it on its right bank.

The commune is bordered by Chastel-Nouvel to the north, Badaroux to the east, Lanuéjols to the southeast, Brenoux and Saint-Bauzile to the south, Balsièges to the southwest, and Barjac and Servières to the west.

These projects in adjacent departments will reach major cities nearby to Mende (Rodez, Albi, Toulouse, Le Puy and even Lyon).

This connection was born of a desire to open up Mende to air travel, which is indeed late at this level for a prefecture, and has no direct flight to Paris unlike its neighbours Clermont-Ferrand, Rodez, Aurillac or Le Puy-en-Velay.

When it was initially named as such, the Pan d'Auriac was mainly a place of settlement, before becoming the quartier des pénitents blancs [district of the white penitents] who settled there.

[26] At the foot of the hill is the Lycée Notre-Dame, while beyond the district of Saint-Laurent (where one finds traces of history with the presence of a chapel and a windmill) and, later, the Gardès ZAE.

The region is an ancient site of settlement dating back to the Bronze Age, although the capital of the Gévaudan, the Gallic period then Gallo-Roman, was Anderitum.

The city, strictly speaking, dates from the Middle Ages, and it is not found cited at the end of the 6th century by Gregory of Tours in his Histoire des Francs.

His act of resistance,[37] refusing to deliver his compatriots, thus earned him great popular fervour, and it was around his tomb and his hermitage that pilgrimage began, allowing the village to grow.

[44] This period isolated Mende from its neighbours, including Le Puy-en-Velay, and waited the arrival of the Constable of France, Bertrand du Guesclin, then the intervention of Charles VI and the liberation of the region so that the roads reopened around 1452.

The Gascon signed as a witness to an agreement between the legate of Clement VII, Antoine de Lisa, Bishop of Maguelone [fr], and a representative of the Viscount of Turenne.

[47] At the end of the Hundred Years' War, Mende developed its production of drapery, and thus increased its role as a commercial crossroads between the Languedoc and Auvergne, exporting its fame.

[49] In October 1485, when Clement de La Rovere came to the episcopal seat, old quarrels between the consul and the bishopric re-emerged, first mentioned with fear of losing this privilege.

During the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, Baron [fr] Astorg de Peyre[note 3] was murdered in the king's room:[52] his widow then hired a young man, Matthieu Merle to avenge the death of her husband.

He partially destroyed Mende Cathedral built by Pope Urban V. He saved a bell tower to avoid damaging the episcopal palace where his home was established.

Between 1645 and 1660, the city was the scene of strife between two rival factions: The Marmaux and the Catharinaux, all members of the consuls or the bourgeoisie, but not having the same opinion on the importance of episcopal power, the latter being opposed.

[65][66] Between 1764 and 1767, Mende was the witness the comings and goings of the wolf-hunters of the king, who came to seek rest in the city before returning to hunt the beast which was terrorising the north of the country.

[71] The mayor at the time, Henri Bourrillon [fr],[72] condemned the Vichy regime and the camp in his hometown, where he made sure that children interned with their mother followed a normal education.

[109] Five of the six services are located in Mende:[109] Guy de Chauliac Hospital, the retirement home, the convalescence centre, the Training Institute in Nursing and boarding school.

Moreover, since 2011, it welcomes in its structure the home of the Paul Éluard psychological and psychiatric unit, a branch of the Centre hospitalier François-Tosquelles [fr] of Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole.

This hospital, located on Rue Angiran, derived its income from the operation of a mill in the district of La Vernède, as well as donations of the lords of the lands.

[116] Mont Mimat [fr] offers a freestyle park, many hiking, mountain biking and running trails, a jogging track and a football field.

In October 2005, the city hosted the 37th national congress of the French hiking federation,[122] Lozère being a popular department for hikers, and is crossed by two of the most important roads of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

At the Rue de la Chicanette is installed the Jeanne Delanoue community of the Providence; little used for celebration services, the place is used for meetings between people in the religious world.

The community is at the origin of the creation of the institution Notre-Dame-de-la-Providence, a social children's home adjacent to its premises and which hosts minors under administrative and judicial protection.

The Cathedral of Saint-Privat (classed as a historical monument in 1906)[152] whose construction began in 1368 at the initiative of Pope Urban V. Its bell towers date back, however, to the 16th century, following the destruction of one of them during the passage of the Huguenots by Matthieu Merle.

Near the market, along the Chemin Saint-Ilpide, the Urban V municipal room hosts plays, live shows, and also meetings and projections (world knowledge, for example).

Finally as part of the redevelopment of the market (started by the installation of the intercommunal tourism office and the renovation of the Lamartine Library), an auditorium should be created behind the festival hall (the Emile-Joly Square being moved).